Lesson 24 — Activity 3: Chapters 24 – 26

Mowhawk Institute, Brampton, Ontario

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In chapter 24, Noah joins in on the caribou bones game. Noah learns that Matthew wasn't always allowed to play the game because his teachers wouldn't let him. The sadness in Matthew's eyes tells Noah that Matthew, who is now in his fifties, was sent to a residential school in Ottawa when he was five years old. This chapter tell us about how the government and the churches took Native children from their families and sent them to live in boarding schools. The people in charge said it was for the children's own good, but it wasn't. The teachers wouldn't let them speak their own language or practise their own traditions. Some of the kids were abused, and some of them even died.

In chapter 25, the boys drink the beer that Noah stole from his father. At the end of the chapter, Noah tells Lenny that he is sorry about what "we Qallunaat" (white people) did to his people. Lenny doesn't say a word, but Noah gets the feeling that he's thinking about what he said and taking it in.

In chapter 26, Noah cannot sleep again and finds himself wide awake. He begins to hear a loud sniffing noise outside of the tent, and he feels heavy footsteps. Noah peers through the crack on the tent and sees only darkness. He begins to think that he imagined the sniffing sound. But then he hears the sound again, and it's getting louder, coming closer. When Noah peers through the crack a second time, he's confused — now instead of the darkness from before, he sees only a mountain of white snow. It's then that he realizes that it isn't snow — it's a polar bear!

Noah is terrified and wants to call out to the other boys, but he knows that he can't. Noah grabs Lenny's rifle, aims, holds the trigger, takes a deep breath, and then releases the trigger. Noah realizes that the polar bear is coming towards them, and he shouts for the others to wake up. Lenny grabs the rifle from Noah's hands, points the rifle straight up into the air and fires. The bear stays right where he is. After much commotion, Lenny shoots his rifle again at the bear's giant paws. The bear roars and raises his front paw as blood oozes out. But then, to their relief, the bear hunches his shoulders together, helps himself to some of their Arctic char, and then turns and heads for Short Lake.

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